My dream is to eventually be a working designer. I hope to have my own small design operation. I would love to design printed linens and quilting fabrics. I would also love to be licensed and have my designs appear on home and office products. Designing for children’s clothing is also in the plan. I know it will take a lot of time, probably years, but being able to continually create and run my own business is my ultimate goal.
Here’s some of my favorite designer/product combos:
I’m tackling this post in the last possible moments of the deadline, as it’s been difficult to look forward lately. Sometimes things happen in life which take the wind out of you. A harsh reminder: “what’s really important, anyway?” This has been the case since late March and has tarnished my bright shiny views while putting a damper on my obsessive forward momentum. An absolutely irreplaceable person in my life has been diagnosed with cancer… again. Another cherished friend has also begun her battle. Anyone who has had someone close to them go through this despicable illness will instantly understand. Anyone who has not— consider yourself fortunate and I hope that the blessing will continue for you and yours.
This week’s assignment was to write about our hopes and dreams beyond REPEAT(ed.) In my March 25 blog post I talked a lot about about my goals. Today I’ll add that I’ve been thankful to receive the valuable written suggestions and comments from the judges and mentors. Ellen had very nice things to say about my unique style while also pointing out that sometimes it may seem more appropriate for paper than fabric. I agree. And I’ve done enough research to know that multiple streams of income are essential in supporting myself, so plans to license my designs beyond fabric are definitely underway.
Jill Bliss and Geninne are both artists I admire with very recognizable styles who successfully license their art to be sold on a wide variety of products, some of my favorites being their beautiful art prints and stationery lines for Chronicle Books and Galison, respectively.
Framed prints came to mind when I created this design last week to enter in an exhibition at one of my favorite local downtown stores called Heebe Jeebe. The theme was “The Farm Show.” You can download a free May desktop calendar of this expanded design on my blog.
I will end this post with a photo of a precious baby quilt my mom made. She was only 20 years old and already such a talented artist.
Take care, spread love.
Congrats to Taylour for a great design win!
Also a big thank you for awarding me the Readers Choice Award! Yay!
So where do we go with our designs after the REPEAT(ed) competition?
I’ve been a Graphic Designer for many, many years, with all the design experience that comes with that. What I love in design is that every design challenge is new and you are always growing and learning as a designer.
This is a new design challenge for me, even with all that experience behind me. I’m new to designing for fabric and designing for quilting fabric is a world of it’s own! I have some great community support around me here and online. In my Quilt Guild, Surface Pattern Design Guild, friends and family have been so supportive. It truly is a wonderful feeling. I couldn’t do it without you guys and girls : )
This competition has expanded my horizons with helpful feedback and wonderfully encouraging comments through the REPEAT(ed) community. I have found my connections grow through the competition and have recently signed my first licensing agreement for some of my pattern designs! I’ll let you know more about this very soon!
So where am I headed? I hope towards some great licensing deals. I’ll dip my toes in and see how it feels. Surface pattern design is applied to so many things and places around us, just look around.. cups, mugs, plates, napkins, wallpaper, tissue boxes, notebooks, cards, cushions, phone covers… you get the idea. There are also many ways to work in the surface design industry (whether it’s full or part time, freelance or as a licensed designer) – as long as I’m challenging myself I know I’m on a good path.
Throughout the competition I’ve had some wonderful support by a fabulous designer and friend Carol Van Zandt. In May I am following her to Surtex in NY to help out and watch her in action. Surtex is one of the main shows for selling and licensing original art and design, this is going to be an invaluable learning experience. If you’re going to Surtex this year come by and say hi, we’ll be in the Carol Van Zandt booth #327 !
Some Fabric tests through Spoonflower. Colour tweaking to be done.
Whether I make it to the final round or not (and I do hope that I do!), I’ve made a commitment to myself that I will gather my collections and go see the fabric manufacturers at the Fall Quilt Market in Houston in October. I truly have a love of quilt fabrics and quilting and this is definitely a road I want to travel!
I look forward to forging a career in textile and surface design and I can’t wait to see the designs that I have produced made into fabulous quilts and clothes…. plates… cups… wallpaper… cushions…..
I must go – I have many patterns to make!
Cheers,
Kim.
Follow along with me on this journey:
Facebook
Website (still a work in progress…)
Twitter
Find a window in your house, look out it, take a picture, and design one print around what you see. Interpret your surroundings as you see fit. What surrounds your daily life? Pick three solid coordinates to go with your print. You must present your image in your blog post about your print.
A warm welcome to the three judges for this month’s challenge. As always, Michele Rosenboom will join us along with Timna Tarr and Jessica Pollak!
Stay tuned for blog posts over the next week or so on where the designers see themselves going…We told the designers, “some say setting intentions is the best way to achieve your dreams, so write down your dreams and go for it!” Easier said than done!
Designing patterns for the quilt market can be tricky. They need to be developed in such a way that when cut into small pieces, the basic elements of the pattern are represented. This leads designers to think, “Hooray! To save time I can develop a small repeat. I just need to make sure that the repeat isn’t totally obvious, right?!”
Wrong. Your pattern should look just as beautiful on four yards of fabric as it does when it is cut into two inch squares. Just think about the quilter who loves your pattern so much that they use it on the back of a quilt or cut into a larger piece. As textile designers, we should cherish pattern-lovers and respect the amount of time and money that go into creating a quilt. Remember, a quilter is an artist too, and textiles are their medium.
So let’s go back to the assumption that many designers make, if you are developing a small scale print you can create a smaller amount of artwork and therefore use a smaller repeat. Yes, this is true in some cases, but let me tell you from years of experience, small scale prints can be very tricky to put into repeat. The most common issue is striping, which is when certain colors, elements or other details are used in a row and when repeated, accidentally create stripes. Try to see if you can find the stripes in the example below:
Pattern and repeat developed by Chelsea Densmore
In my experience, it is easier and faster to create a larger repeat, for example 8 inches instead of 4 inches, because you have more artwork to manipulate and can avoid creating stripes. In the example below, Chelsea increased the size of her repeat to 8 inches and carefully arranged the elements to avoid striping. Halfdrop repeats are another helpful tool, but if your artwork is too small you may still run into the striping issue.
Pattern and repeat developed by Chelsea Densmore
So how can you make sure that your repeat is ready for the bolt? By using the squint test. Yes, you may feel silly, but I promise you, it works! Follow these steps:
1. Print the artwork sized at least five inches beyond the repeat and hang it up about seven feet away
2. Squint and look…
3. Stripes suck: A good repeat is free of unwanted horizontal or vertical stripes. Subtle diagonal movement is the most flattering.
4. Keep your balance: Make sure colors and design elements are spread evenly across the repeat otherwise the final product may be missing key pieces of the artwork. Ensure that background color is evenly visible.
5. Halfdrop: If the square or rectangular repeat is too easily seen, try a halfdrop repeat by repeating the design elements halfway down the side of the artwork in the vertical direction.
6. Stay in scale: When working on large scale products, the repeat should be large enough to remain interesting. Too small a repeat can create a monotonous, dizzying feeling in large prints.
7. Be true to the original: Does the repeat have the same look and feel of the original artwork? A successful repeat builds upon the existing artwork, but does not change the look and feel of the original piece.
8. Repeat: Always double check for errors before you send to the printer! Be on the lookout for misaligned objects or elements which have been cut off.
In my opinion, developing repeats for the quilting market is more difficult than other markets, so take a deep breath and try not to rush the process.
Last Monday I closed enrollment for the Ultimate Guide to Repeats Free Training Series, but based on this blog post topic I feel compelled to let Pattern Bolt readers jump in a little late! You’ll receive the past lessons, as well as a downloadable copy of the infographic seen above, and will be on your way to developing more professional patterns and repeats in no time! You can register here.
Congratulations to all of the designers who get to stick around for the next round, and a big “WAY TO GO” to Taylour for his stunning, inspired design!
This was such a fun round to be a part of as a judge. I was so completely impressed with how everyone went outside of their comfort zone, either learning about a trade and its tools that they previously knew little about, or taking something extremely familiar to them (like Alice’s keyboard), turning it into a unique design. It was a really tough round to judge. From hand drawn motifs, watercolor transparencies and variations, crisp vector graphics, and such a range of color stories, I feel like a bit more of everyone’s personal style emerged in this round.
I recently experienced something that made me think about how great happy accidents can be in the working process that I thought I’d share with you guys. As usual, I was recently working on a couple of things at once, simultaneously working on a bird motif for a repeat design and on a little illustration of a bee for an alphabet project I’m creating. I could have easily drawn the bee shape in Illustrator, but I wanted to stick to some good ol’ nitty gritty cutting by hand. I think it’s likely good for the artist’s soul in some way to get your hands dirty and away from the computer regularly.
After sketching a bit, I began by cutting the bee out of paper with an exacto. I cut out separately the shape of the stripes that would go on its body. When I finished cutting out the stripes, I was left with an interesting little grouping of stripes that just seemed like the perfect shape for a cool flower design.
So, I turned it into the repeat shown below that I really ended up just loving and used as a coordinate with my original bird design. Had I not decided to go about this by using the cut paper, I may have never stumbled across that flower possibility. Things like that can come out of switching up your process to something less familiar, leaving a gap of unpredictability that can be very exciting.
As a designer, I have a tendency that leans towards making a lot of my designs as drawings first, usually with ink, and then scanning them in to work with the repeat and the colors digitally. A lot of my work is character driven, contains vignettes of little scenes, and is often tilted towards more conversational fabrics. One suggestion I would send out there to the folks in the next round is to explore a range of approaches in your designing. If you always work in Illustrator, creating crisp vectors, try a handmade collage next time. If you tend towards a hand-drawn aesthetic, see what that same design would look like if created from start to finish digitally. You might decide you just can’t stand to deviate from the “norm”, which is just fine. But, you might have a few happy accidents along the way that lead you to your next amazing design.
This round, Taylour’s design was very clearly the winner in my mind. He created something entirely new with his inspiration. The tools are there, but they don’t scream “carpentry”. Alice did a good job of this for this round, as well. I’d like to challenge all of the designers to consider shifting your focus from individual motif-making towards thinking about the print as a whole, with elements that interact to create something bigger than each individual element.
During the last two rounds of judging REPEAT(ed), I’ve been forced to look at my own design “bias”. I have my own approach, my way of thinking, but that doesn’t mean that other designers have to do it the way that I do to create something beautiful. This weekend I was thinking about why I’m so drawn to non-literal interpretations of inspiration. I think it has to do with my background. For example, if my inspiration for designing an interior was “country chic”, I wouldn’t use haybales for chairs and hang wagon wheels on the wall. Those are some of the first things that come to my mind, but they don’t necessarily belong in the space in their literal form. I would think about ways that my inspiration could inform my selection of colors, materials, and lighting. I’d brainstorm ways that some of the interior detailing could reference country buildings in a modern way. I’m used to taking inspiration and using it as a tool, a starting point, nothing more. And that carries over into my pattern design work, as well.
Designers, here are a few ideas for ways that you might be able to put a pleasing distance between your inspiration and your final design:
1. Metaphor and analogy are powerful tools you can use to help create connections to different-but related ideas. Here’s an example of what I’m talking about as it relates to graphic design. It’s makes your work clever and delightful!
Reserve Seat (Restaurant Reservation Service)
2. Abstract your motifs. A couple of textile designers that come to mind are Josef Hofmann and Koloman Moser, both from the Wiener Werkstatte. Their motifs were almost always stylized. It’s fascinating, as well, how Mr. Moser interlocked his motifs to create movement through his prints. Such simple motifs, but they create really striking prints as a whole when put together.
Koloman Moser
Source: Turn of the Century Viennese Patterns & Designs
Koloman Moser
Source: Turn of the Century Viennese Patterns & Designs
3. Think about end-use. Since we’re talking about repeat patterns for quilting fabric in this competition, you probably need to stick with that, but there’s no reason you can’t envision your fabric for use as a handbag or skirt. Would you want frogs on your handbag? If they were cool, stylized frogs (that didn’t look like frogs from a distance), I could be convinced! Always ask yourself – “Would I buy this fabric?”
Congratulations to all the designers who’ve made it this far! Believe me, I know how much effort you’ve been pouring into this. It really shows! It’s been so enjoyable for me to watch and judge so far. Each new round is another opportunity for growing and improving your work…I can’t wait to see what you come up with next!
From the lap desk of Ellen…
As always, I am totally impressed with the work, writing, and inspiration of the designers. Big congrats to Taylour for the win and a shout out to Kim for the Reader’s Choice Award. A heartfelt goodbye to Janel and Kate – both are incredibly talented, and I can’t wait to see what they do in the future.
This year we’ve cut down on the number of designs that the designers are submitting. So far it’s just been one print and three solid coordinates. While this is surely sufficient for the competition, I’d encourage all the designers to look at their TPB patterns as a starting point for more designs! For example, Jessica’s pie chart design could be the beginning of an entire pie chart collection. Last round Jessica Pollak reworked several of her final designs for Quilt Market and while I didn’t think they could get much better, they did!
So, while this is a competition, and you are right in the thick of it, look at your design work here as the beginning of all kinds of new and exciting work. The time constraints of REPEAT(ed) don’t need to mean that you are done with a design forever…
From the lap desk of Madeleine…
Congratulations Taylour on winning round two of REPEAT(ed). I had carpentry in mind when we were discussing the challenge idea and I am glad you focused on a carpentry tool. Your design was so much more sophisticated then what was rattling around in my head (that’s why I leave the designing to you all).
Everybody had such inspiring designs that it was so hard to pick my favorites. I appreciate all of the hard work that you all pore into your designs and your accompany blog posts.
Based on the judges individual comments for each designer I noticed a few main themes to keep in mind for the next round. It is important to keep in mind is that the judges are only judging your latest designs and they want to see main focus prints. Several of the designs in this round were praised for their design and color use but the judges felt like they would be a great part of a collection but not the main fabric from the collection, so keep that in mind as you design. Another key element the judges focused on is the placement of motifs and the repeat of the designs. So keep this in mind as you work on your next design challenge.
You all blow me away each round, I am early anticipating the next set of designs.
The winner of Design Challenge Two is Taylour Beadling!
Congratulations Taylour, your interpretation of the challenge impressed all three judges. They appreciated your sophisticated color palette and your innovative design.
Judge Remarks
Michele Rosenboom said: “Great print. Visually striking and rich with detail. I didn’t catch that you had incorporated saw blades, nails, and screws at first, so don’t forget to point those items out so we can appreciate the thought and effort that went into your work! Color palette is sophisticated. Keep up the great work!”
Michelle Fifis said: “I love almost everything about this print! It is innovative, fresh and the colors are beautiful. I only wish that the repeat was less repetitive and stripe-like. It is so interesting that I just wish there was more of it, but you did a FABULOUS job on the concept and color palette development. Congrats!”
Greta Songe said: “This design has a very retro feeling. The colors are such a lovely muted palette of primaries. I like the overall super-geometric feeling of the print. It feels very mechanical and industrial in its aesthetic. I think this particular design seems very well suited towards apparel or accessory usage more than quilting necessarily.”
The readers wanted to run away with Kim and join the circus. Congratulations Kim for earning the Reader’s Choice Award!
Unfortunately, Kate Austin and Janel Maske have to pack their tool boxes and head out for the next great job. These two ladies know how to use their tools and while their time with REPEAT(ed) as come to an end these ladies will take their tools and put them to great use.
The judge scores are based on analyzing multiple aspects (from scale to marketability) of each design on a one to ten scale. The sum of the scores determines the ranking of designers. Here’s what the judges thought, what did you think?
Stay tuned this week for feedback from Madeleine, Ellen and our three excellent judges.
Which design captures your occupational desires? Pick your favorite “Tools of the Trade” fabric.
Voting closes at midnight EST on Saturday April 13th.
keyboard confetti 10″ x 10″
keyboard confetti / detail
keyboard confetti / colour coordinates
I’m pinching myself here, I made it through the first challenge? A huge congratulations to Kim on her wonderful winning design and for setting the bar so high. I bet I’m not the only one hoping to see her work pop up for sale soon.
This brief was something new for me. Up until now I’ve only ever designed patterns for myself and because I like florals (and my teacher liked florals too) I’ve only ever done florals. Tools aren’t florals… Hmmm… A quick audit of handheld tools around my home mostly came up with objects that could double as weapons.
sharp and pointy tools
Early on in the challenge when my brain was still trying to work out how to justify making a floral (flowers are tools of love?), I thought a lot about the link between the work of a maker and the tools they use. In a way every manmade thing is as much about the tools and materials as it is about the idea, story or use. It is through the marks tools leave that we can see the craftsperson’s hand and mind at work. Things created by tools are not created in a vacuum either, there’d be no pen tool in illustrator if it wasn’t for someone long ago inventing the pen and there’d be no computer to run illustrator on if Joseph Jacquard hadn’t built on existing weaving technology and invented the Jacquard loom in 1801. I started to discover that tools tell great stories by themselves.
I started researching different kinds of tools and typing out a huge list, hoping to stumble upon something so beautiful that I’d instantly know I’d found the right subject. Instead I just spent hours at my computer compiling a really long list that would be impossible to pick from. Then it hit me, or rather I hit it… over and over and over and over again. Not a day goes by where I don’t use my keyboard to create something. It is by far the most used tool in my life.
my computer and what I sometimes want to do to it 
Sadly a carton of chocolate milk and a few glasses of water mean that my laptop’s keyboard has seen better functioning days. I often daydream about picking the broken keys off and throwing them across the room or dropping the whole thing off the balcony and watching bits go flying everywhere like confetti. I promise I’m a calm and rational person, I just think it is almost time my computer and I went our separate ways. Distorting and smashing up a keyboard, even if it was done on a computer, was quite therapeutic.
my notebooks are always a mess
Eau Jardin 10″x 10″
Eau Jardin- 2.5″x 2.5″detail
Solid Coordinates: citron, turquoise, aqua
How exciting to be presenting my second design for Repeat(ed)! I’m so happy to be here. I really loved the feedback from the judges and mentors in the first round- so helpful as I am a newcomer to the world of quilting fabric. It was also really useful to explore what’s out there right now. It’s thrilling to see all the enthusiasm and activity going on in the world of pattern design and quilting. I have been pinning like mad- check out my quilt and pattern boards!
My background and training is in interior and fashion fabrics where the pattern is usually experienced in a big huge swath. It is a revelation to me and super FUN to design fabric that will be cut into pieces and made into quilts!! Now I am itching to get sewing!!!
Once again I was influenced by the weather for this assignment (to choose an occupation and its tools). This winter has been a LOOOONG one and a snowy one, so the beginning of March and the slightest hint of life in the soil led me to my dream occupation- gardener! The key tools in my toolbox- both real and imagined- are sprinklers, hoses, and watering cans. I am in reality a very amateur gardener with a small city garden which I have been slowly trying to pack full of flowers (and the occasional berry). Here in Toronto it gets pretty scorching in the summer and our gardens need hydration or they wither up FAST. I am talking about responsible watering, as water is one of our most precious (and wasted) resources. Rain barrels, early morning drinks before the sun evaporates it all, planting close together so the moisture stays in, mulching, mulching, mulching… it’s all good!
I love gardens of all kinds- from formal arrangements to rambling cottage gardens. I wanted to bring both elements to this design- some order and some chaos. This is the essence of any garden, come to think of it. I started by sketching water droplets, irrigation hoses, fountains and sprinklers interspersed with flowers of course. This is one inspiring motif and I have developed a couple of other patterns around it too- you can see them here! My colour inspiration is SPRING- I want a clear, crisp, fresh, bright pattern to celebrate the season which i hope will hurry up and happen! I love the combo of red and pink, with a hit of aqua to mellow it a bit. I am also loving the primaries right now- red, yellow and blue- (plus hot pink of course)! This palette- especially in neon and sorbetto shades- is having a serious moment in the world of design and I love it! Here’s my mood board about this colour story…
spring bikes from here, flowers from my garden (my pix), liberty floral dress s/s 2013, lego cakes found here, my latest knit and crochet projects with s/s 2013 yarns, a colourful brick in Mexico, my hammock and a vintage flower book cover (my pix)
Here are some other examples I’ve come across lately… here and here and here too!
A dear friend of mine is having a baby any minute now and I hope to be there for the birth- how exciting- so I designed a wee baby quilt with her and the sprout in mind…
Hooray for new beginnings and bright, fresh days! Happy Spring!
Tools, tools, tools. I really enjoyed the prompt for this challenge. It gave me the opportunity to honor the fine artisans of world. I chose to go with a carpenter. They are seriously invaluable. What are you sitting on right now? A Chair? Is it made of wood? BOOM, carpentry*!
I spent a good amount of time researching carpentry tools. It’s an incredibly old trade and the tools used throughout history are extremely interesting! I found the coolest forms and shapes in the various tools. If you want to check out some pretty cool images, I suggest this link!
I went with some pretty classical tools to inform my design. My pattern features a trusty pair of double calipers, compasses, nails, and a saw motif.
I ultimately abstracted the forms of the tools into the individual parts of my pattern. Overall I believe this leads to a pretty cool, modern design. I decided to keep my color palette relatively neutral, with a couple of fun pops here and there.
Thanks so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed my pattern as much as I enjoyed making it!
*If your chair is made of metal, or you’re sitting on something that is not even a chair, I still think my point is valid. You have no doubt owned something made out of wood.
Kim Andersson’s Up In The Air…
Up In The Air 10×10
Up In The Air 5×5
Up In The Air Solid Co-ordinates
For this challenge I’ve packed my bags with the tools of a Juggler!
I’m sure that a lot of us, at one time or another, feel like we’re doing a lot of juggling and that we already live in a circus ; )
Recently I was researching some images and came across this book “The Circus. 1870s-1950s” by Dominique Jando (published by Taschen). I had no idea of the immense history and legacy of the American circus.
The badge says it all. Have you ever thought about running away to the circus?
Photo by Karen Leigh Photography
“During its heyday, the American circus was the largest show-biz industry the world had ever seen. From the mid-1800s to mid-1900s, traveling American circuses performed for audiences of up to 14,000 per show and crisscrossed the country on 20,000 miles of railroad in one season alone.” (Taschen.com)
Performer Lottie Brunn, 1949, image from The Circus Book: 1870-1950 (Dominique Jando)
Looking at books and online websites I came across some wonderful vintage images of performers on and off stage, filled with color and character. What drew me into the photos of the jugglers (apart from some very fetching costumes) were the fabulous shapes of their juggling apparatus (clubs, balls, hoops) and the shapes that they make as they fly through the air.
I wanted to show these tools in a way that portrays their energy and motion while they’re in use. I also played with the scale so that you can still see full shapes in smaller quilt pieces, but the larger images are graphic enough that when cut into they are still graphically pleasing shapes and pops of color.
Vintage photo postcard
Vintage Circus Poster from The Ringling Museum
I imagine that if you had a tent full of juggling performers, my pattern is what it would look like up in the air. Swirling lines in the background represent the swirling energy and motion and give a great background texture.
The colors I’ve chosen are a vibrant representation influenced by the colors that I saw in use in vintage color photographs and circus posters.
It’s the circus, let’s have some fun!
Up In The Air + Solids + Linen Hexy play.
Again, I couldn’t resist seeing what would happen when my pattern and solid coordinating colors are cut-up into hexys and rearranged (I also added some linen, I love using linen as a neutral!).
I want to get stitching, I hope you do too!
Cheers,
Kim.
The Pattern Maker – Here is the 10″ x 10″ final pattern and close-up versions!
Coordinate colours: Coral, Deep Purple, Warm Blue
Whew! The last month has been a little hectic to say the least. I moved from my home in Melbourne back to the hectic city of Jakarta, Indonesia. Unpacked our things into our previous apartment, only to have to move out two weeks later! Needless to say, there have been quite a few adjustments in a short period of time.
Trying to feel at home away from home can be quite challenging, so when I sat down to think about what occupation I could create into a pattern, I immediately thought I wanted something familiar in amongst all this unfamiliarity in my life at the moment. I decided that it would be a ‘pattern maker’.
My mum was a pattern maker many years ago before she had us children, and although she is no longer in the industry (now a nurse), she fondly recalls her days at the technical college studying pattern making and then working in various roles as a wardrobe assistant on local TV police drama and for various stage productions. She remembers being picked up by the production trailer (when she worked on the TV show) in the early hours of the morning to be driven to the set location and the pressure of sewing costumes correctly for stage productions. I’ve also seen (and worn) many garments she’s made, including my aunt’s wedding dress. I wish I could show you some photos, however they’re all packed away in the cupboard back in Melbourne.
With a lack of decent internet since arriving here (even uploading this post up is turning into a mammoth task!), I took out my pencil and sketch pad and just starting drawing. So what kind of tool does a pattern maker use? I don’t think I could pick just one tool of the trade when it comes to pattern making, but many; paper, pencils, tape measure, scissors, fabric, sewing machine, needle and thread… just to name a few. I’m sure a lot of it is done on the computer these days, but I decided to I draw on the bits and pieces my mum has from her pattern making days (I just love the sound of her shearers to cut fabric) and also my own experience of making my own clothes.
When I decided I wanted to make some PJ’s and a couple of jumpers, I actually used my mum’s old class notes to help create my patterns. I found it to be quite a technical and time consuming process that required accurate measuring, cutting and sewing… however after many determined days I managed to have several pieces of clothing that I actually wore.
Some initial sketches that got me started on the pattern.
I wanted a quirky, colourful and hand drawn design, so after sketching my motifs on paper, I re-drew them in Illustrator. I usually like to choose my colour palette next, but I couldn’t settle on the colours, so I focused on the repeat. I tried to incorporate some of the feedback I got last time by making the pattern non-directional and disguising the repeat a little better. Hopefully it’s an improvement from last time. Finally, after much tweaking, I started on the colours. I generally choose a limited colour palette, but felt the design needed more than just 4-5 colours. So, I choose a wider colour palette of colours I felt complimented each other well, as I didn’t want one motif to stand out too much more than another. I also felt that each motif didn’t need to be coloured in, and by leaving some motifs still looking like a ‘sketch’ fitted in well with pattern making.
I think working on this pattern has re-kindled my interest in making and sewing and encouraged me to start using my stash of fabric to good use! Of course I’ll have to wait patiently till I’m back in Melbourne later this year to get out the sewing machine.
Hello!
For my second fabric design I chose the occupation Financial Advisor for inspiration. You see, when I was younger I made the decision to attend a private art school even though I didn’t really have the funds for such an institution. I graduated in 2008 into a miserable job market and a crashing economy. After four years of struggling to find a stable job while still making exorbitant student loan payments and paying crazy high rent, I finally achieved some financial stability. That’s when I was lucky enough to meet my financial advisor, Jirayr. Jirayr helped me get my financial life back together when it all just seemed to complicated to handle. One of the most effective tools he used to help explain my situation and options was charts/graphs. Being able to visually picture my situation helped me understand exactly what was happening in my financial reality.
So, for my design, I chose my favorite kind of chart: Pie Charts!
Kaleidoscope Pie 10×10
Pie charts are not only an effective tool but they can be visually striking and beautiful.
Kaleidoscope Pie Detail
When I started designing I tried out various types of graphs using paper collage. Then I started playing with scale, color and layout:
Next I went digital to play some more:
Digital Pie
After I had many pie charts that I found appealing, I selected a few of my favorites and started playing. I experimented with different numbers of grouping and different layout but I kept coming back to the groupings of four. I liked the simplicity of four and how the individual elements didn’t get lost as they did in the five and six based groupings. I also love the effect the negative space lends in the groupings of four.
Different Pie Chart Groupings
Here is a shot of my design in a quilt block with my three coordinating colors:
Kaleidoscope Pie Block with Three Coordinating Colors
I love the way the fabric is very geometric when viewed from close up and almost floral when viewed from far away. For my color story I wanted something that was playful and bright so I chose the deep orange and chartreuse. I also wanted some more subtle, elegant hues such as the khakis and blue-greys.
Thanks for stopping by to check out my second fabric! I don’t think I’ve ever had so much fun designing something- EVER!
Part-time Help / 10″ x 10″
Part-time Help / detail
Part-time Help / solids
For this challenge, I thought I’d better put some thought into the market. Who might use fabric with tools? It is a pretty broad topic, I suppose, but it seemed like any fabric which would end up with a very specific set of tools, for just one job, would need to be of a common enough interest (like gardening) to appeal to many people. Or it would need to be uncommon or weird (like astrolabes!), but fall within a popular genre, like steampunk. Or I figured I’d just have to abstract it enough to make it look like something else (I tried to make a floral out of drafting tools and totally failed). After failing, I reassessed. If I were to make a fabric featuring tools, who would enjoy it? 1. Quilters who have other hobbies/interests and want to make a quilt featuring them. 2. Loved ones of quilters who get quilts made up of their hobbies. 3. Children! So I went with children. I don’t doubt I missed some other available markets there, but whatever. I wanted to use small animals, and thought raccoons would be perfect with their little hands. I asked my husband what they should be doing. “Breaking into a safe,” he said. “Naa, try again,” I said. “How about doing the dishes, then?” he said. Bingo! I know it’s kind of random, but it made me pretty happy to think about so I thought maybe it’d make other people pretty happy to use it.
Anyway, to create it, I drew everything out in pencil and pieced it together in photoshop. I then created a couple of new brushes to make the soap bubbles. I also wanted to add some more texture to the background (not too much empty space for the quilters! Also I really like texture), so I created a few simple repeats out of kitchen gloves, bottle brushes, and soap bottles and droplets. I was going to use them all, but it was just too busy, so I only used the bottle brushes. They’re in the background, kind of like a subtle wallpaper.
I went with a neutral, hopefully modern color scheme. I should point out the tools in the design: gloves, dishcloths, towels, soap, and bottle brushes. I hope you like it!
p.s. Here it is in full repeat:
